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Thursday, January 8, 2009

Piece of Cake!

Once again we dropped into the Banco Pichincha to see why our cheque had not cleared our Canadian Bank. We've been trying to transfer a lump sum of money for almost 3 months now. After some apologetic hemming and hawing, we were told the reason the cheque had not cleared at this point was that "a political decision has recently been made" and it is no longer possible to conduct transactions between a Canadian & an Ecuadorian Bank. We find this extremely hard to believe and distressing at the same time. Shelley once again got spitting mad over the fact that it has so far cost us $30 in service fees for absolutely no service. (Spitting gets you no where but it does feel good sometimes.) We have written a missive to our Canadian Bank and are waiting to see what they say. Keep in mind the last time we told them we were in Ecuador and asked about the best way to transfer monies, they advised us to drop into our nearest Bank of Montreal and arrange a wire transfer. We withdrew our small balance from the Banco Pichincha.Later, Bank of Montreal advised they did not have a specific relationship with any Bank in Ecuador and thus cheques could not be cashed. They did not mention the reason why or how long this had been going on. They did say they could forward paper we could sign to arrange a wire transfer however. All in all, after weeks of frustration & $30 spent on nothing, we decided to put a hold on our plans to transfer a large sum until we felt a bit better about the whole thing.

After Brian's usual work up of intense sighing, worried looks & quiet little moans, the day for his dental surgery arrived. Shelley (in some sort of weird empathy thing?) didn't get to sleep until 2:30 a.m. the night before. Brian had crabbed at her a couple of times when turning over but generally slept like a baby. We ate a hearty breakfast (as who knows when Brian's would be able to chew again) and set off for his appointment at noon. Shelley settled into the waiting room and cracked a new book. Brian reluctantly went straight into the periodontist's office.

Five minutes later he returned.

The periodontist had cleaned a little plaque from Brian's teeth and then advised the surgery would be tomorrow. We're beginning to think it's some sort of sadistic Spanish thing. Walking home, Brian asked "What are we going to do now?" Shelley pointed out that they'd planned their whole week around Brian's surgery.

Some meat was bought for the vegetarian pizza Shelley had been planning for her supper and we walked home and put Brian down for yet another nap. Brian remarked later that at least he got a free happy pill high.

The next day we did the whole thing all over again except this time Brian actually had his surgery & Shelley actually got to read a couple of chapters in her book. The periodontist came out first and told Shelley, "Your husband, he is very brave!" Shelley giggled.

Brian was next and said, "Piece of cake!" Shelley clapped her hands.

Walking up to SuperMaxi later to pick up the "prescribed" vanilla ice milk (good for stitched teeth) Brian said, "All that anxiety & waiting & sleepless nights & it turned out to be so easy!"

A T3 took care of the pain which did eventually come and the stitches are due to be removed in a week. Until then Brian's on a diet of ice cream, eggs, noodles & soup. Total cost for regular cleaning, surgery, 2 teeth removed, temporary teeth for plate ~ $330, plus Shelley's getting her teeth cleaned ($55) when Brian gets his stitches removed. After that Brian should get his teeth cleaned every 3 months because of their poor health but if he does this "your teeth should last for many more years" he was assured.

We are both ecstatic (!) that Brian's whole dental thing is finally over. Has Shelley mentioned that she hates his teeth?

Me, too, but I keep plugging away at it. I amuse all the folk when I go south, but then they always tell me how good my spanish is. I think they're just happy that here's a gringo who at least tries.(además, se dicen que se aprende otra lengua para evitar la enfermedad de Alzheimer. I hope they're right!)